No. 20 Pirates Defeat NC State on the Road, 3-1

Friday, September 3

Raleigh, NC

7 P.M.

Seton Hall University

2-0-1, 0-0-0

NC State

2-1-0, 0-0-0

Seton Hall

NC State

9/3/2021 9:50:00 PM | Men's Soccer

Box Score BOX SCORE (PDF)

Raleigh, N.C. – The No. 20-ranked Pirates rode a strong second half performance to pick up a road victory over NC State, 3-1, on Friday night. Johannes Pex (Stephansposching, Germany), Luca Dahn (Kahl, Germany) and Paavo Riihijarvi (Oulu, Finland) all tallied in the victory as the Pirates moved to 2-0-1 on the season.

How it Happened
In the 20^th minute, Denis Kelmendi (Falkenberg, Sweden) sent a cross into the box that was headed along by CJ Tibbling (Jarna, Sweden) where it found the foot of Pex who blasted a shot past the Wolfpack keeper to open the scoring.

Just three minutes later, the host-Wolfpack found the equalizer when AJ Seals found Kuda Muskwe in the box off a corner to even the match at one. The score would stay even through the remainder of the first half thanks to Pirate keeper Andreas Nota (Rome, Italy) who came up with a pair of acrobatic saves to keep the Wolfpack out of the back of the net.

Turning Point
The Pirate put the pressure on the Wolfpack backline coming out of the halftime break, earning a corner in the 50^th minute. Kelmendi took the corner kick for The Hall and found the head of Dahn who was able to guide the cross into the back of the net and give the Pirates the lead. The assist was Kelmendi's second of the evening.

With a 2-1 lead halfway through the second period, the Pirate pressure earned yet another corner kick. This time it was JP Marin (Briarwood, N.Y.) who placed one in the center of the Wolfpack box just as Riihijarvi used his height to sky past the other defenders and head home an insurance goal for The Hall.

Goals
20' – Pex (2) – from Tibbling, Kelmendi
23' – Muskwe – from Seals
50' – Dahn – from Kelmendi
67' – Riihijarvi – from Marin

Inside the Numbers

The Pirates outshot the Wolfpack 15-11, including a 10-2 advantage in the second half alone.
Nota earned the win for The Hall in net, his second of the season, making four stops in the process.

News & Notes

With the win, the Pirates improved to 2-0 against NC State all-time.
The goal for Pex was his second in as many games and his five points on the season lead the team.
The goals for Dahn and Riihijarvi were their respective firsts of the season.
Kelmendi's two assists make him the first Pirate to have multiple assists in a game since Mattias Almeida Sundell (Sweden) and James Boote (Southampton, England) each had two helpers in the Pirates win over then-No. 17 Marquette in the 2020 BIG EAST Semifinal game.
Six different Pirates have now found the back of the net in three games on the young season.
With the win, Nota now moves into a tie for fifth place all-time with 23 victories to his credit as a Pirate.

Up Next
No. 20 Seton Hall will stay in Raleigh, N.C., to finish off the George Tarantini Classic as they take on No. 10 Virginia Tech. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m., on Monday and will be a rematch of last year's Round of 16 game that saw the Pirates advance on penalty kicks, 7-6 following a 2-2 draw after regulation and two overtime periods.